Welcome! Blood, guts, trauma, surgery, and life saving intervention keep us on the adrenaline roller coaster of the ER. Of course, it's not always positive. The ER can be an emotionally taxing and sometimes heartbreaking workplace, and this blog serves as an outlet for the stress of making life and death decisions each and every day.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Sometimes we all fall down....

Two rough shifts in a row, and minimal sleep make for one very sad and emotionally exhausted ER vet.

Two nights ago I performed a c-section on a 12 year old pug - yes, 12 years old. The sweet old dog had delivered one stillborn puppy, and had four remaining in her uterus when she arrived to the ER. Fortunately, I retrieved all four puppies alive! Unfortunately, she had a rough recovery and required more care than a typical c-section patient. Much of that to be attributed to her age and a moderate amount of bleeding during the surgery. Thankfully, her condition was not as a result of a surgical error, but simply a complication of her age, normal surgical losses, and other clotting factors. As of this time, she's recovering well and stabilized, but it was hairy for a few hours. Also unfortunate is that the clients are very upset with me. I understand the frustration of not having your pet do well after an expensive emergency procedure, however I'm not all-powerful. I'm human, and your 12 year old dog (compare to a 80-85 year old woman) should NOT be having litters of puppies. This was preventable. Furthermore, I saved all four of her puppies (so cute!) and she's probably going to pull through, too. I wish that the client could understand how much I care and how hard I work on my patients.

Last night I had a beautiful young male cat arrive with an obstructed urinary bladder. I can't remember if I've written about this topic before, so I'll be sure to scan through and if not write a full informational post... Most of these guys I'm easily able to treat, restore urine flow, and place a urinary catheter under anesthesia. This cat was the second one in my career (of hundreds or thousands) that I wasn't able to relieve the obstruction. Long story short, the clients nearly didn't allow treatment to start, so with the setback, they euthanized their beautiful cat. I cried as I administered the euthanasia. I feel like I let him down - but there was nothing else that I could have done to change the outcome.

All stories contained within this blog are inspired by my life as an emergency veterinarian. Details including but not limited to name, time of visit, species, and age are changed to protect the innocent and crazy alike. Any relationship to persons or animals, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This isn't web DVM....

These stories are shared to inspire and to entertain. They are not intended to be medical advice. If your pet is sick, the only rational thing to do is have him or her seen (in real life) by a veterinarian.

Who is that masked woman, anyway?

Ever since I was little, I always had the dream of becoming a veterinarian. The dream has been realized, and my passion is emergency medicine. ER work has many pitfalls and disadvantages, but for me, the ability to be there in a moment of crisis and help both a beloved pet and their loving family, is worth the bad days.

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Definitions and commonly seen conditions

Anemia: Low PCV (see below). Anemia can result from external hemorrhage, internal hemorrhage, destruction of blood cells in the body, or inability to make new blood cells in the bone marrow.

Azotemia: Elevation in the BUN (blood urea nitrogen) or creatinine. BUN and creatinine are body wastes typically eliminated by the kidneys; increased levels in the body indicate kidney dysfunction, obstruction of urine, or severe dehydration.

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF): Accumulation of fluid in the lungs due to failure of the heart. Some symptoms include shortness of breath, decreased appetite, rapid breathing rates, coughing, and weakness.

Feline Lower Urinary Tract disease (also called feline idiopathic cystitis): A condition resulting in frequent, painful urination, and in the most severe cases, obstruction of the urethra. FLUTD has several potential causes and is also an extreme emergency.

GDV: Gastric dilatation and volvulus. Occurs in large breed dogs; the stomach fills with gas and twists. An extreme emergency, this condition is treated with stabilization and immediate surgery.

PCV: Packed cell volume. The percentage of red blood cells contained within a given sample of whole blood. Normal for dogs and cats is typically 35%-45%.